Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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78 August/September 2018 unmanned systems
inside
In fact, SORA is a rather complex and tedious
process, involving the tabulation of operational
perimeters and evaluating risk in terms safety,
privacy and security. It's so tedious, in fact, that
Murzilli underscored the desirableness of not
having to do a SORA at all. And that's where
the standard scenario comes in.
"The idea with standard scenarios is that we
'pre-cook', to already have an assessment ready
to fit certain types of operations, so you don't
have to do the SORA," Murzilli said.
"This is about automatic approvals. We are
in the digital age, we rely and we want to rely
heavily on digitization, we don't want to see
forms and papers. Are you kidding me? Can
you really imagine doing this with a paper and
a pencil? But that's another question.
"As far as the standard scenarios, if standard
kinds of operations are being done over and over,
we can just do one SORA to cover that kind of
operation, and then based on that we tell you
how to comply in terms of your parameters."
"We think that the standard scenarios should
become very, very powerful tools to open up the
drones services market," de Vos said, "to release
up operations that are in market demand, where
we free the way for businesses. Starting by devel-
oping the right standard scenarios will help, of
course. We need descriptions of scenarios that
not only are sufficiently clear but also cover a suf-
ficient number of operations that are in demand."
De Vos said the Commission wants to see
standard scenarios that are applicable and that
will be mutually recognized and binding across
European borders and even farther afield.
Car ine Donzel-Def ig ier, deput y head,
Aeronautic Industry Department and General
Secretary of the Civil Drones Council at the
French General Directorate for Civil Aviation,
underlined the importance of striking the right
balance between standard scenarios and mission-
specific authorization.
"In France, we have about 5,000 operators
and the number of jobs is estimated at about
10,000," she said. "So that means about two
According to long-established practice
in aviation, authorization to f ly is based on
aircraft type and characteristics, and a given
aircraft remains certified whenever and for
whatever purpose it is used. Under the newly
proposed operations-based system, what
matters will be how and where said aircraft is
to be used. Thus, every unique operation will
have to be authorized, regardless of whether
the operator is using the same aircraft. And
this could lead to a big problem.
"The national certif ication authorities
(NCAs) will be confronted with a huge num-
ber of requests to f ly, to operate, and they are
mostly still working in a 'paper mode'," de Vos
said. "We do not believe it will be possible for
the NCAs to continue to check and approve
each and every drone operation."
With this looming challenge in mind,
one of the central topics of the workshop in
Cologne was the development of so-called
'standard scenarios' that will allow a level of
automation in the authorization process.
RISK ASSESSMENT AND OPERATIONAL
CATEGORIES
The key, it turns out, to understanding how
standard scenarios will work is to first under-
stand how risk assessment works.
The starting point for all operators will be to
apply for authorization to f ly under one of the
three operational categories—open, specific or
certified. Which of the three categories they can
fly under will depend on the level of risk entailed
by their specific operation. Determining that level
of risk will mean carrying out a risk assessment.
Lorenzo Murzilli is manager for innovation and
advanced technologies, at Switzerland's Federal
Office of Civil Aviation. He leads the JARUS
working group concerned with risk assessment.
He started his presentation at the Cologne work-
shop by explaining a new methodology called
'Specific Operations Risk Assessment' (SORA),
intended for use by UAS operators applying for
authorization within the 'specific' category.
"WE NEED TO GET THE
NUMBER OF STANDARD
SCENARIOS RIGHT, BECAUSE
IF YOU GET TOO MANY YOU
WILL HAVE OPERATORS
WONDERING WHETHER
THEIR MISSION BELONGS
TO STANDARD SCENARIO
NUMBER 13 OR IF IT IS
NOT STANDARD SCENARIO
NUMBER 49."
Carine Donzel-Defigier,
deputy head, Aeronautic
Industry Department and
General Secretary of the Civil
Drones Council at the French
General Directorate for Civil
Aviation
BRUSSELS VIEW by PETER GUTIERREZ